Social Media

February 16, 2016

Brazilians are voracious consumers of online content and power users of social media, so when an article or video really takes off in Brazil, it can become a cultural phenomenon or a national conversation. That happened last week when an American self-help writer penned a bilingual open letter to Brazil, a hotly controversial mike drop of sorts as he returns home after four years in Rio.

"Why is Brazil so screwed up?" he writes. "You are the problem. Yes, you reading this, you are the problem. I’m sure you don’t mean to be, but you are actively participating in the problem and perpetuating it. Every day." And then he proceeds to explain this theory about why all Brazilians are to blame for their problems in brutally honest (if not particularly well written) detail. "You are fucked," he writes.

Brazilians, needless to say, went bananas.

A well-known entrepreneur responded in a 16-minute video which also went viral. Others were inspired to pen their own open letters to Manson, like a tech writer who wrote: "Your letter says more about you and your beliefs than it does about our country." A friend of mine joked he was going to write an open letter to the United States; another wrote a political analysis about the reaction to the letter.

Manson already had a large following, which helped boost the article's circulation to tends of thousands of shares. He also published the letter at a particularly rough time for Brazil, under international scrutiny for the Zika outbreak, a suffering economy, and a big corruption scandal ahead of the Olympics.

But he's not the first and he won't be the last gringo to go viral by hating on Brazil. Having written my fair share of critical pieces on Brazil, particularly while I was living there, I've also found this to be true.

When a foreigner writes an excoriating critique of Brazil - or even just a negative view - there's a good chance of the piece taking off.

The Danish journalist in question. This is a whole other story for another time.

Let's look at a few actual headlines from the past few years. All but the first are from major news outlets.

And so on. In a similar vein, Brazil's largest media outlets often report when an important foreign publication (The New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist) writes a big story about Brazil.

This hypersensitivity to criticism by foreigners is part of what's called the complexo de vira-latas, or mutt complex. Conceived by Nelson Rodrigues, the country's most famous playwright and a keen observer of Brazilian culture, the idea originated after the country's humiliating 1950 World Cup loss. Rodrigues defined the mutt complex as "the inferiority in which Brazilians voluntarily place themselves in front of the rest of the world...The problem is faith in oneself." This was true of soccer, but also of a much larger spectrum, from an economy going through boom and busts, hyperinflation, poverty, and yet another excruciating World Cup defeat on home turf in 2014. This might seem strange for a country as big and powerful as Brazil, but this phenomenon has proved the test of time.

Another piece of the mutt complex is endless self-criticism. It comes up in everyday conversations in a serious manner, but it's also addressed through dark humor as something of a coping mechanism. Particularly on social media, this means a lot of jokes about the country's problems. "Brazil's internet culture is very, maybe particularly, fond of turning national trauma into a source of endless humor and ironic celebration," writes LA Times correspondent Vincent Bevins.

In other words, some Brazilians talk and joke endlessly about the country's problems, but aren't so thrilled when foreigners take the same critical eye they do.

So if you're a foreign writer looking to get your name out in Brazil, the quickest way is to go negative. Just don't expect to make many friends.

I met one of the group's founders, Raull Santiago, while he was in New York for a Witness panel and the international launch of Cufa. Later, he told me more about the group and its future.

Why was Papo Reto created?

Papo Reto happened naturally and became a collective around March 2014. At the end of 2013, there were really strong rains in Rio de Janeiro. Here in Complexo do Alemão, many homes were destroyed. People in the favela involved in social issues worked together and managed to help families with everything they needed after the disaster. After that, people went back to work. Me and so many others were concerned about social issues and trying to help out in some way. So we saw the potential of working together as a team to help people who lost their homes. Some people continued working together and we became the Papo Reto collective. Papo Reto was born from the idea of the strength we had working together.

What's the role of Whatsapp in the work you do?

The role of "zapzap" and so many other tools and social networks are essential, since it's through them that we communicate in real time, and often in strategic ways about everything happening in the favela. Our Whatsapp groups are popular resistance groups, guerrilla communication, collective protection.

What do you consider Papo Reto's greatest achievement?

We're not seeking achievements, but rather collective advances. We're less than two years old, but through our work we've already put Complexo do Alemão on the map in a real way. We've done this showing the violation of rights as well as showing what's positive in the favela. Our importance is being able to bring the name of Complexo do Alemão to the world and have an impact to be able to transform our reality in a positive way. Achievement means having more and more people learning about us through multimedia, and multiplying this knowledge and potential.

Policeman filming an Alemão protest.

The group has received threats due to your work. What kind of daily risks do you face?

The majority of people in Papo Reto received at least five threats, all of them, unfortunately, from public security agents; in other words, the police. The biggest risks are having false evidence used against us, or being kidnapped by the police, or being shot and killed based on the simple fact that we exposed the violent and wrong ways that public (in)security forces use in the favela.

What are your plans for the group's future?

Continue working with communication. But we don't have a base or headquarters, even a small one, to hold meetings, store equipment, or hold workshops that require certain material, so that's a goal. Our big plan is to multiply the methodologies and techniques we've been learning to show the reality of young people who live in conflict zones, prejudice, racism, and other abuses.

August 17, 2015

In Brazil, the instant messaging app Whatsapp reigns supreme, with an estimated 45 million users. It's been a game-changer in making personal communication cheaper and easier, as well as affecting how politics and journalism work. Just this past weekend, major newspapers like Estado de São Paulo and Folha de São Paulo used Whatsapp to crowdsource the anti-government protests taking place across the country.

But because of the speed and popularity of the app, it has been used to spread false information and even abet violent crime.

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In June, a rumor began circulating on Whatsapp that President Dilma Rousseff had tried to kill herself. (See image on the left) The information was wholly untrue, but the president took it upon herself to address the rumor publicly. "I just came to speak to you all today because they said a little while ago that there was a rumor going around that I was hospitalized," she said to the press. "Do you all think that I was?"

Anti-government protests have been largely organized through social media, including Whatsapp. But the reasoning behind the pro-impeachment movement have not always been legitimate, legal reasons for backing an actual removal of a president. In some cases complaints have to do with the economic crisis, like rising gas and electricity prices and government spending. (See below)

Plus, Whatsapp has been used by police as a way to allegedly plan revenge killings, including massacres in the past year in Belém, Manaus, and last week in São Paulo. Police have used the app to share addresses of suspects and photos of victims. Brazilian security publication Ponte described Whatsapp as "adding fuel to the fire" of revenge killings by police. Whatsapp use by São Paulo police as a parallel system of communication for organizing reprisals was well documented by Vice Brazil in April, and is worth a read for those with a strong stomach.

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The app has also been used by police and drug traffickers alike in Rio. Although I was unable to confirm their veracity, since those who showed me the messages were afraid to try to trace them, I heard three voice memos sent over Whatsapp in recent weeks that, real or not, help spread a sense of fear about the city's security. The first was from an alleged policeman involved in the capture and killing of the notorious drug trafficker Playboy this month in Rio. In the audio, he describes the action and chuckles as he describes Playboy alive on the way to the hospital and then arriving there dead. Record News also reported this audio circulating but could not confirm its veracity.

Another message came from an alleged drug trafficker saying there would be attacks in the city to avenge Playboy's death. Apparently there were a slew of these types of messages circulating on Whatsapp, enough for the police to investigate and try to trace them. Another audio clip I heard came from an alleged Rio policeman also talking about the aftermath of Playboy's death.

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That said, there's a lot of interesting and constructive ways Brazilians are using Whatsapp. And even the police have used the app to fightcrime rather than commit it. But it's something to keep an eye on as social media becomes more ubiquitous in daily life in Brazil.

April 24, 2015

If you follow Brazil and you're on Twitter, you likely know Sérgio Charlab, a Brazilian journalist who does an incredible job of aggregating news about Brazil in English. He's incredibly agile at sharing and condensing both breaking news headlines and the best enterprise stories.

Now, he's testing out a new distribution service on Whatsapp - the first Brazilian broadcast news service on the chat app. He sends top stories throughout the day, as well as the front pages of the major Brazilian newspapers each morning. Each headline comes with an image and authors' Twitter handles, making it easy to reshare on Twitter.

Charlab is a veteran Brazilian digital journalist. Three decades ago, he used HTML, a novelty back then, to get Jornal do Brasil online, making it the first Brazilian newspaper on the web. During that time, Online Journalism Review named him as one of the "50 International Names to Know" in digital news. He's had a long career in newspapers and magazines, as well as publishing two books. He's always liked to combine his passion for journalism and technology.

Via email, I asked Charlab about his work on Twitter and Whatsapp to understand his strategy.

How long have you been doing the @scharlab Twitter, and why did you start it?

I started sharing Brazil related news regularly in 2012. It was the visible part of my attempt to understand and partially automate all human judgements related to finding, reading, evaluating and sharing news.

Why did you decide to start the Whatsapp service?

Since the 1990s, (now defunct) Pointcast there have been countless services with the ambition to define "The Future of Online Publishing." Twitter may have been the one that came closest to the way this elusive future is shaped in my mind. Unfortunately, that still unreachable goal alone can't sustain Twitter investors' eagerness to get value for their money in this competitive field.

As Twitter expands its focus of attention, it loses part of that journalistic appeal and dilutes its heft as a tool to share news. At the same time, 'one to one' services like Snapchat or Facebook's WhatsApp not only now grow faster than Twitter, but also have been adding "one to many" tools. That allows one person/organization to directly distribute content to many. I was waiting for this effervescent moment, and as soon as WhatsApp also launched a web version I knew it was time to start playing more seriously with it.

Courtesy of Sérgio Charlab.

How do you divide your time between WhatsApp and Twitter? How do you decide what goes on which platform?

To feed Twitter, I've developed a plethora of tools/ways to find news content to aggregate. Those who follow the Twitter handle know that, if I wish, hardly a piece of content or tidbit data on Brazil escapes me. What many don't know, is that I also developed a capacity to gather this content very quickly after it gets published online originally.

I read or parse all data, instead of just resharing as is very common online. Once I get content suitable to aggregate, I schedule it for the next appropriate time spot on Twitter—but share it immediately for the WhatsApp subscribers. They get it first and can even reshare themselves from WhatsApp to Twitter, even before the time I do it myself.

I have plenty of data from almost 50,000 tweets sharing news to understand how Twitter works best for most news consumer users. It may be surprisingly counterintuitive. I'm now doing the same with WhatsApp. I start with preconceptions which I expect to test, adapting the daily feed to the discoveries made by usage. For instance, at least for now, WhatsApp users instantly get the most "powerful" news, tidbits. These will be in much lower numbers than a regular day of posts on Twitter. Of course, WhatsApp users can always block the broadcast or silence the notifications for a while. The free WhatsApp subscription is harmless.

Do you think messenger services like Whatsapp will ultimately be more useful than Twitter for news delivery? Why or why not?

There's a shining moment for everything. Email is obviously suitable for the same "one to many" news distribution I'm doing through WhatsApp. But it has long lost its mojo. Twitter's mojo is entirely based on its enviable base of news sources and celebrities. But you already see Twitter somewhat desperately trying to keep both groups at bay—a difficult task in the exciting new apps/services launching times in which we live.

Through WhatsApp (or also Facebook’s Messenger or any new similar service) you are directly in touch with your subscribers, who of course have enough confidence in what you do to allow you to reach them in their personal mobile space. This is no small matter. Because of that, I'm very committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information of the WhatsApp readership.

Subscribers are protected by anonymity in regard to other subscribers. Only I know they're receiving the news broadcast. And differently than a WhatsApp group, in the WhatsApp broadcast if you reply to any post it won't be addressed to the group of subscribers—only to me. This kind of exchange can quickly evolve to a deeper level of personalization that would allow both service producer and subscriber to control the flow to the news consumer’s individual needs.

Ultimately, I want to give news lovers the flow of information I had dreamt for myself. Curated by great editorial minds that go through everything in detail to find and share, directly to me, what I need and what I would love to know, in the timing and frequency I appreciate best and in a format I can easily and quickly share with others.

Follow Charlab on Twitter at @scharlab and get on his Whatsapp list by emailing scharlab at gmail dot com.

March 08, 2015

A week before scheduled nationwide protests calling for the president's impeachment, Dilma Rousseff gave a major televised address met with booing, horn-honking, insults, and pot-banging in several cities throughout the country.

The president gave a speech on the country's austerity measures, asking for patience with the economy and blaming Brazil's woes on a historic drought and an international slow-down. She made just one mention of Petrobras, the country's embattled state-run oil company at the heart of a massive corruption scandal.

The address was met with "balcony protests" in various neighborhoods in cities throughout Brazil. There were widespread reports in São Paulo, as well as Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, and Goiânia. Some protestors yelled, "Fora Dilma!" (Get out, Dilma), as well as profanity. #VaiaDilma (Boo Dilma) was the top trending topic in Brazil this evening, and also made the top 10 global trending topics. Videos of reactions to Rousseff's speech spread quickly on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Whatsapp, and Snapchat.

"The Planalto should understand that what happened on Sunday in São Paulo should serve as a warning about the deterioration of the political situation that could hurt Dilma and the Workers' Party," wrote political journalist Kennedy Alencar on his blog.

Brazil remains politically divided after one of the closest presidential elections in recent history, with the president's approval rating falling to 23 percent in February. Meanwhile, protests in favor of impeaching Rousseff are scheduled for March 15, a plan which has spread on social media.

Political tensions are mounting amid concerns over the economy and the Petrobras scandal, and public anger toward the ruling party during election season has lingered.

For example, an online petition demanding Rousseff's impeachment has reached nearly 2 million signatures. Last month, a video surfaced of Rousseff's former finance minister quickly leaving a public hospital in São Paulo after getting heckled. The same month, a group of protestors interrupted an event during Rousseff's first official trip of her second term, yelling "impeachment!"

While it's unclear how many people will actually hit the streets next Sunday, reactions to the pot-banging "protests" today indicated just how politically fractured the country is. It seems Brazilians can't even agree on how to express their political discontent.

Because many of the reported pot-banging demonstrations took place in wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods, some on social media dismissed them as isolated incidents among the rich. Critics joked that the protesters had to call their maids to find out where their pots were stored, or simply couldn't find pans to use.

Meanwhile, others in favor of the protests spread videos and underscored the number of cities with reports of demonstrations. Others used the so-called panelaço to encourage people to show up to the impeachment demonstrations on March 15. Some people were circulating photos like these on Twitter to try to show that it's not just the rich who oppose Rousseff.

São Paulo-based journalist José Roberto Toledo wrote on Twitter: "Political division is also geographic. Those who heard the pots today live in areas where Aécio won in 2014. It was intense. Extensive? We'll see on March 15."

Bruno Torturra, a São Paulo journalist known for his past work with Mídia Ninja, wrote on Facebook: "The phenomenon isn't explained by social class alone, and it's apparent that it just aggravates this inflammatory and precipitated reaction from those on the left who were offended by the shouting...this country is impregnated by hate."

Meanwhile, Brasília-based journalist Vicente Nunes said that those close to the president were taken aback by the reactions to Rousseff's speech. "The Planalto is in panic about the spontaneous reaction to President Dilma. The president's advisors say they're perplexed."

Political scientist Maurício Santoro, based in Rio, wrote on Twitter: "You don't need to be a pro-coup extremist to be frustrated and angry. The president needs to respond to the population's legitimate wishes."

São Paulo-based entrepreneur and blogger Marco Gomes shared his frustration with the evening's events. "I think protests in apartment windows are interesting, since they demonstrate dissatisfaction that I, too, feel. At the same time, I think it's pathetic not to actually [protest] in the street."

And there remains the question. Brazil's 2013 protests took many by surprise. But given increasing political tensions, the marches scheduled for March 15 could gather real numbers, considering the emotions seen tonight. Or they could completely fizzle if people aren't interested in leaving the house. We'll find out next Sunday.

February 22, 2015

Transparency is part of the lifeblood of a democracy, especially in a crisis, though governments are not always honest. But in the age of social media, it's getting harder for officials to hide information. Such is the case of water rationing in São Paulo during the worst drought there in eight decades.

Urban water use accounts for only 9 percent of all water use in Brazil, while irrigation makes up a whopping 72 percent. Nevertheless, the drought has hit São Paulo residents and farmers alike. Many consumers in São Paulo have been dealing with some form of shortages during the drought, forcing them to be strategic about how they use water. Yet for a long time, local officials denied there was rationing.

In reality, water rationing has taken place across São Paulo for months, first reportedly beginning a year ago. But São Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin only publicly admitted rationing for the first time on January 14 and Sabesp, the state water utility company, only began releasing information about rationing schedules on January 27. Also last month, an official from São Paulo’s water utility company made an announcement about a drastic measure: residents of Brazil’s biggest city could potentially face five days of water rationing per week if rainfall doesn’t pick up. While unnerving, it was also honest in the face of denial for so many months.

But rationing is hardly a secret, after being widely reported in the press and on social media. While officials refused to explain what was really happening, São Paulo residents took to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to reveal what they saw around them. Last year, there were 6.5 million tweets about the water crisis, and as of early February, there were nearly 900,000 tweets in 2015 alone.

In fact, one of the reasons Sabesp started revealing information about locations and times of rationing stems from a social media campaign. Using the #ToSemAgua hashtag in a campaign organized by the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institution and Minha Sampa, participants asked São Paulo residents to email government and Sabesp officials to make rationing locations and schedules publicly available. They finally succeeded last month.

To complain about shortages and to spread information about rationing, some São Paulo residents are using the hashtag #SPSemAgua, which means “São Paulo without water.” It first started appearing on Twitter in February 2014, when rationing reportedly began, and has since picked up steam as shortages spread. Newspaper O Estado de São Paulo is tracking the hashtag across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, allowing readers to submit their shortage experiences. There are other hashtags as well, such as #CadeAguaSP (Where's the water in São Paulo?) There's also a site called Faltou água, which crowdsources reports São Paulo residents to submit their location and how often they’re experiencing water rationing.

Here are a few examples of what social media users have shared about the water crisis:

a joke event called "My Shower, My Life at Governor Alckmin's House" on Facebook, gathering tens of thousands of "participants"

In addition, there's also a Tumblr and Twitter account called Boletim da Falta D'Água (Water Shortage Bulletin), which shares updates on the drought, the latest levels of water reserves and rain forecasts, what leaders are saying, and what's actually happening.

São Paulo has been getting rain recently, but the problem isn't solved yet. The experience provides an important lesson that in the age of social media, it's a really bad idea to try to cover up a crisis.

January 12, 2015

As Brazil's smartphone market grows, so has the demand for texting apps, and Whatsapp currently reigns supreme. The app, which allows users to send SMS messages using Wifi or phone data, has shifted how many Brazilians share information.

Brazilians have taken to the service not only as a substitute for text messaging, but also as a social network, sharing content like memes and viral photos and videos. It's even a stand-in for talking on the phone, letting users send voice recordings. It's an incredible change considering that less than two decades ago in Brazil, it could take years to get a home phone installed.

Still, not everyone is a fan of the app. Search for "revoltado Whatsapp" on Youtube and you'll find numerous examples of people fed up with Whatsapp, including videos that have circulated on the app itself. In one, a man complains that the app is endangering his marriage, since his wife gets constant Whatsapp alerts at all hours of the night.

Aside from its use as a social network, Whatsapp has also stood out as a tool in politics, journalism, and transparency. Here are some recent examples.

The video above featuring presidential candidate Aécio Neves was one of the most popular pieces of content circulated during the elections. His party, the PSDB, realized the power of the network and created 33 pieces of content exclusively for Whatsapp during the campaign. "We circulated some content to groups of party faithfuls before the first Globo debate, and they shared them with their contacts. It blew up," the PSDB's digital strategy coordinator told VEJA. President Dilma Rousseff's team also used Whatsapp early in the campaign, as well as ramping up messaging ahead of the vote.

Journalism

Some news outlets are using Whatsapp as a means to crowdsource stories, as well as gettings tips about breaking news and potential leads. Sites include Folha de São Paulo, Band, O Dia, and Extra, among others.

Rio's Extra is was one of the pioneers in using Whatsapp as a journalistic tool, and has used the app well to aid reporting.

The newspaper launched their Whatsapp project in June 2013. The website has frequently advertised its Whatsapp contact numbers, asking readers to send tips, videos, and photos.

Since it launched the project, Extra received over 1 million messages and more than 60,000 files, including photos, video, and audio. As a result, the newspaper published over 500 stories in its print edition and more than 1,000 online. With so much content, the paper built an entire Whatsapp section with stories using tips and information sent through the app.

Readers have submitted a wide variety of tips, from potholes to crimes to rescues. It was Extra, for example, that reported drug traffickers shooting automatic weapons during a pick-up game before the World Cup. Sometimes, a story contains just a quote or a first-person account from Whatsapp; other times, the whole story is based on a tip.